Angle changes tune on immigrants prison

Negative public opinion made him rethink the county's role.

Ron Angle wants Northampton County to drop its role in bringing a private immigration detention center to Upper Mount Bethel unless and until the township backs the facility in writing.

"I'm a great believer in democracy, and the overwhelming majority of people are telling me they don't want it," the County Council president said during a news conference Wednesday.

Angle was one of several key Slate Belt officials who dined on Oct. 13 with private prison operator GEO Group. The next week, Angle invited the company to address County Council. At the time, he touted the company's plan, which could create 500 jobs and generate tax revenue, as an economic development no-brainer.

Since then, Angle said, he's taken the temperature of 400 residents and found they worry about how the facility could affect their community.

"I never said it was a good idea," Angle said Wednesday. "I never took an official position on this."

Last week about 100 residents flocked to both a township meeting and an information session convened by the Bangor Area School District. The most vocal among them opposed the project.

Worries about detainees escaping or the existence of the prison hurting the township's reputation are unfounded, Angle said Wednesday. GEO has said most of the 2,500 detainees served their sentences and would be awaiting deportation or release.

From the start, he has said Upper Mount Bethel supervisors have the ultimate say over whether the facility gets built. Township zoning permits a detention center with conditions imposed by supervisors.

"Somehow the county and myself has been the face of this," Angle said. "This is solely a township action."

Angle implored township supervisors and the school district to "fish or cut bait" and take a public stance on the project. He said three of five supervisors have told him privately they support the plan. He said Supervisor Robert Gerwig opposes it.

But Gerwig and Supervisors Chairman Ed Nelson said they remain neutral.

"I think that's some decision [Angle] has come up with up, based on his own analysis of the situation," Gerwig said.

"I truthfully never had enough information to make a decision one way or another," Nelson said.

The other supervisors could not be reached Wednesday for comment. Supervisor Jerry Geake has spoken in favor of the plan in public meetings.

GEO has yet to submit formal plans to the township.

On Thursday council members will consider reversing an Oct. 21 vote that authorized Executive John Stoffa to strike a deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Angle said. The contract would have given the county responsibility for detaining people who are in the United States illegally; the county, in turn, could have subcontracted the job to GEO Group.

At the time, Angle abstained on the vote to avoid a perceived conflict of interest. He owns land on either side of the proposed site. Angle and prison officials said the project would probably increase property values because the overall economy would improve.

On Wednesday, Angle said: "I don't see it helping or hurting the value of my real estate."

Angle, who is up for re-election next year, said his proposal to withdraw county participation is not politically motivated. He said the move will lose him more votes in the 16 municipalities that make up his Slate Belt council district than it would gain him in Upper Mount Bethel, where he lives.

"I've never gauged anything I do based on election or non-election," he said. "I think that's pretty evident."